Re: Naked and Afraid - Discovery Channel

Cordage is the key. Dani figured out how to make the cordage. HOWEVER, she used that horrible 'grass' when there were perfectly good palm fronds available. Fold and layer the fibrous palm fronds, and they are even better than bark. They provide sturdy protection, but are flexible at the same time.

Re: Naked and Afraid - Discovery Channel

Dani was awesome and Justin, well, was Justin. I guess he just wanted a partner to get body heat from and cook...if he managed to get anything. Hmph. Glad he lightened up a little to where he/they could finish but it was only after he killed the snake. Could have been even uglier if he hadn't finally been "successful" at hunting.

Re: Naked and Afraid - Discovery Channel

Carrie . . . unbelievable. You walk off and leave the other person, and take the map to the extraction point with you? And then YOU complain about HIS teamwork? If anyone on this episode was "diluted" (Carrie's quote), it wasn't Tom.

I liked that they showed both folks at home before the trip. You can see that they have the diary cams and it looks like they are given a choice of three items, a firestarter, a pot with a lid and a machete. Tom complains that his diary camera smells very bad and obviously has been used before.

The narrator notes that if you have prior military experience you start with a base PSR of 5.0. Carrie had 4 yrs as a marine and Tom was 14 yrs as an officer.

Day 1 Tom refuses to share body heat ... says he doesn't want his wife to get mad. Seriously, Carrie and I both think that is stupid. The adventure does go downhill from there.

Day 5 Carrie questions what survival skills if any that Tom possesses.

Day 15 Carrie feels that the situation between the two of them is like a bad break up and that she can't leave until she gets her CDs back from him.

Day 16 I see absolutely no foliage to be used as bedding and insulation on the floor of the shelter. One thing I learned from Bear Grylls reality show is that you need lots and lots of grass or other greens as padding for your bedding. I have yet to see any team do this.

Day 18 Tom goes to get clams. Carrie observes that Tom is like a lot of officers she knew, that they knew how to give orders but they don't know how to do anything. Lots of negative energy directed at Tom and how useless he is and how he shouldn't be there. Hint: your partner can feel that energy Carrie it doesn't help. Oh, Carrie I don't think you meant Tom was diluted but that he was delusional.

Day 20 Carrie is done.

Day 21 While they prep water for the extraction trip the bamboo falls over ... the start of a fight between Carrie and Tom and both claim the other is passive aggressive. Carrie is offended that Tom says he has been suffering from her PA attitude from the very beginning. Yes, Carrie you give off huge nonverbal signals. She gets pissed off and leaves with the map and Tom searches for her for 2 hours not knowing where she went. She appears and gives Tom the evil death stare. They continue the trek and finally get rescued by the helicopter. As they fly away Carrie says while they don't hate each other they do strongly dislike each other.

Narrator:

Tom - good builder and firestater, but his conservative approach allows him to miss opportunities.

Carrie - impressive shelter building and food gathering skills but stubborn sense of independence contributed to major tension within the team and jeopardized their chances of completing their 21 days.

Re: Naked and Afraid - Discovery Channel

Awesome summary Bearcata! From the previews, I thought Carrie was going to be completely horrible and unreasonable. Actually, when I watched the episode I could see why she was so frustrated with Tom. He came across as an incredible wussy. All he wanted to do was keep the fire going 24 x 7. Since they had plenty of wood & tinder available and a firestarter, was it really necessary to feed the fire all day long? Shouldn't he have made some kind of move to hunt for food? And, yes, his whining about not sharing body heat was nuts. I'm sure his wife knew he was going to be naked in a survival situation for 21 days with another woman when he signed up for this! Don't get me wrong, Carrie NEVER should have stolen the map and left him alone on the final day - I just don't think Tom was all that awesome. Carrie was more of a go-getter and she clearly lacked the patience to deal with Tom.

Also: wasn't the tattoo of Tom's wife hideous? Looked like a Halloween creature with those creepy eyes!

Re: Naked and Afraid - Discovery Channel

Originally Posted by Cornholio

Awesome summary Bearcata! From the previews, I thought Carrie was going to be completely horrible and unreasonable. Actually, when I watched the episode I could see why she was so frustrated with Tom. He came across as an incredible wussy. All he wanted to do was keep the fire going 24 x 7. Since they had plenty of wood & tinder available and a firestarter, was it really necessary to feed the fire all day long? Shouldn't he have made some kind of move to hunt for food? And, yes, his whining about not sharing body heat was nuts. I'm sure his wife knew he was going to be naked in a survival situation for 21 days with another woman when he signed up for this! Don't get me wrong, Carrie NEVER should have stolen the map and left him alone on the final day - I just don't think Tom was all that awesome. Carrie was more of a go-getter and she clearly lacked the patience to deal with Tom.

Also: wasn't the tattoo of Tom's wife hideous? Looked like a Halloween creature with those creepy eyes!

While they were not the best match up the constant negativity Carrie throws out is hard to deal with. I have a co-worker like that and it is so nice when that person is not at work.

Re: Naked and Afraid - Discovery Channel

[snipped].
Day 1 Tom refuses to share body heat ... says he doesn't want his wife to get mad. Seriously, Carrie and I both think that is stupid. The adventure does go downhill from there.
.....

Day 16 I see absolutely no foliage to be used as bedding and insulation on the floor of the shelter. One thing I learned from Bear Grylls reality show is that you need lots and lots of grass or other greens as padding for your bedding. I have yet to see any team do this.

..... Oh, Carrie I don't think you meant Tom was diluted but that he was delusional......

Hah! I thought "diluted" must be some new slang I didn't know, but after reading your "delusional", I realized she must have been saying "deluded."

I totally agree about the sharing of body heat. Stupid not to do it in a survival situation. And not using foliage for padding or covers.

Carrie seemed to know how to build a shelter - and I like how Tom deferred to her on that when she seemed to have the better skill set there. But after that, she didn't seem to do much other than make that one trip to get clams. As that was successful, I'm unclear as to why she didn't go again.

I don't understand Tom's strategy to just try to get through the 3 weeks without food. I would have been frustrated with that too. But Carrie apparently didn't do anything either up until she went to the lake.

One thing I've noticed in this show is that the contestants never find any debris/garbage that they can use, whereas on shows like Survivorman, Dual Survivor, Bear Grylls, they almost always find things like an empty bottle, an old shoe, a styrofoam container, etc. That always seemed reasonable to me as you always read that humans have spread their trash nearly everywhere. So now I'm wondering if that trash was "planted" on those shows, or if on N&A, they scour the area and remove any trash.